Analyzing Games

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Analyzing Games

• staffanb_at_cs.chalmers.se

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Structure of todays lecture

• Motives for analyzing games
• With a structural focus
• General components of games
• Example from course book
• Example from Rules of Play
• An Activity-centric Approach
• Component Framework
• Presentation of Assignment 2

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Reasons to analyze games

• Common structures
• Deeper understanding of what games are
• Identify differences
• What works and what doesnt work
• Prove hypothesis
• Find or isolate problems
• Learn how a game works
• How it affects people
• How one can reproduce the effects

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Example Quake and Go Fish
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Example Quake and Go Fish

• Comparison to understand what games consist of
• Identify formal and dramatic elements
• Find a definition
• Closed, formal system
• Engages players in structured conflict
• Resolves in an unequal outcome

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Example Quake and Go Fish, cont.

• Formal elements
• Players
• Objectives
• Procedures
• Rules
• Resources
• Conflict
• Boundaries
• Outcome

• Dramatic elements
• Challenge
• Play
• Premise
• Character
• Story

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Ways of studying games

• Structural what does a game consist of?
• Interaction design gameplay
• Operational processes - programming
• Problem solving game theory
• Events and stories narratology (more next
  lecture)
• Operational - how is a game played?
• What do players do when playing?
• Self-organization
• Social structures
• Extra-game motivation and consequences

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Ways of studying games, cont.

• Motivational - Why is a game played?
• Learning
• Immersion - Catharsis?
• Social activity
• Creativity
• Player-focused - Who plays games?
• What player groups exist?
• When, why and how do people start playing games?
• When, why and how do people stop playing games?

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Perspective of games in Rules of Play

• Game Design Schemas
• Rules
• Play
• Culture
• Core Concepts
• Meaningful Play
• Design
• Systems
• Interactivity
• The Magic Circle

• Rules
• Three Levels of Rules
• Emergent Systems
• Systems of Uncertainty
• Theory Systems
• Systems of Information
• Cybernetic Systems
• Game Theory Systems
• Systems of Conflict
• Play
• Play of Experience
• Play of Pleasure
• Play of Meaning
• Narrative Play
• Play of Simulation
• Social Play
• Culture
• Cultural Rhetoric
• Open Culture

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Rules of Play example Tic-Tac-Toe
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Rules of Play example Tic-Tac-Toe

• Operational Rules
• Rules of Play
• Written rules in traditional games
• Constituative Rules
• Underlying formal structures
• Implicit Rules
• Good sportsmanship
• Let other player take back a move

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An Activity-centric Approach to Game Research
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One perspective Interaction Design

• The design area which focuses on interaction
• Computational technology a powerful enabler
• Describing the interaction in games
• Game Design Patterns
• Describing the facilitators of that interaction
• Component framework

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The Component Framework
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Component Framework

• An activity-based model of game interaction
• Includes traditional concepts used to describe
  games
• Player, element, rule, goal, etc.
• Lays out the details of how games are constructed
• Describe, analyze and compare games
• Game state assumed
• Playing the game is making changes in the game
  state! (and getting and refining information
  about the game state)

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Component Framework
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Holistic

• How the activity of playing the game is divided

• Game Instance whole lifetime of the game
• Game Session the whole activity of a player
  playing one game
• Play Session a player actively playing the game
• Extra-game activities activities related to game
• Set-up/down preparatory and end game activities

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Game Instance

• Setting up the game
• All the actions of all the players participating
  in the game
• Ending the game and determination of the final
  outcome
• Activities required to restore or clear the game
  state after playing the game

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Game Instance A typical Chess game

• Two players decide to play Chess
• Beginning of a game instance of Chess
• Setting up the initial board and determining who
  is playing which side
• The actions of both of the players
• Determining the outcome and possible impact
  outside this game instance (tournament etc.)
• Clearing the game state
• Players put the board and pieces away

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Game Session

• Complete activity of one player participating in
  a game instance
• Player specific
• Chess game instance has two game sessions
• Usually game instance and game session coincide
  in time

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Game Session Examples

• Asteroids
• Player puts in coins set-up
• Plays the game until loses all lives play
  session
• Enters initials to the high-score list set-down
• Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game
• Player creates a character set-up
• Logs in to play every now and then several play
  sessions
• Finally decides to stop playing the game and
  removes the character set-down

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Play Session

• The length of time one player is actively playing
  the game
• One game session can consist of many play
  sessions
• But in many games game and play sessions coincide
• Play session consists of all the player actions
  during the session
• Can be described as a sequence of changes in
  modes of play

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Play Session Examples

• Asteroids
• The same as the game session for one player
• Strategy games
• Player can save the progress, close the game and
  come back later
• Many player controlled play sessions
• Play-by-mail Chess
• Player opens the envelope
• Makes his move by writing it on a piece of paper
• Sends the move sheet to the other player

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Set-up Session

• Game Instance
• Set-up the initial game state
• Invite players
• Allow the game to start
• Game Session
• The player or the facilitator configures the
  initial starting position in the game
• The player registers to the game
• Play Session
• Prepare the play session
• Log in the game, select profile etc.

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Set-down Session

• Game Instance
• Declare that the game has ended
• Determine the final outcome
• Return the initial game state if need be
• Usually the facilitator takes care of this
• Game Session
• The players initial state restored or removed
  altogether
• Take care of possible meta-game effects
• Play Session
• Save the current state for further play sessions
• or end the game session

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Extra-game activities

• Activities related to the game but do not have a
  direct effect on the game state
• Planning activities
• Creating strategies
• Modifications to the game
• Skins in Sims
• Game mods
• Create new games!
• Acquiring equipment or game elements
• Buying a booster pack for Magic the Gathering
• Using the game for other purposes
• Creating movies, stories, or stunt shows

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Boundary Components

• Limit the player activities by allowing certain
  actions and making some activities more rewarding.

• Rules dictate how everything works!
• Modes of Play different phases of the game
• Goals and subgoals motivation for playing the
  game in certain ways

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Rules

• Limit player actions
• Describe and lay out the boundaries of the game
• Govern how the other components of the framework
  are instantiated
• Meta-components
• Static or dynamic
• Chess vs. Nomic
• Explicit or implicit
• Rules explicitly known to the player
• Rules hidden in the game system

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Modes of Play

• Different phases or sections of the game where
• Actions are different, or
• Goals are different, or
• Interface is different, or
• Players are different
• Changes between modes governed by rules
• Modes can have sub-modes

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Modes of Play Examples

• Taking turns in Chess
• While the other player makes his move the player
  cannot move his pieces
• Inventory mode
• Many adventure and RPG computer games have a
  different mode for manipulating the inventory
• Different phases in board games
• Diplomacy has diplomatic, action and turn
  resolution phases
• Eating the power pill in Pac-Man
• Possible to hunt the ghosts!

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Goals and subgoals

• Define the game states the player tries to
  achieve
• Motivation for playing the game
• Achievement
• Almost always nested hierarchies or networks
• Subgoals of subgoals of subgoals etc.
• Can be player defined during the play
• SimCity and Sims

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Goals and subgoals Examples

• Pac-Man
• Get as high score as possible
• Complete the level
• Eat a dot
• Eat a power pill
• Eat as many ghosts as possible during the effect
  of the pill

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Temporal Components

• Describe the flow of the game play and define the
  changes in the game state

• Actions what the player can do
• Events what are the game state changes
• Closures meaningful game state changes
• End conditions determine changes of mode of play
  and closures
• Evaluation functions determine the outcome of an
  end condition

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Actions

• What the player can do to change the game state
• Explicit or implicit
• Directly available through controller or the UI
• Hidden in the game system
• Text adventures
• The way to change the game state
• Not the actual physical movement of pressing the
  button
• Related to the interface

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Actions Examples

• Pac-Man
• Movement up, down, left and right using the
  joystick
• Asteroids
• Steer left or right
• Use the rocket to move the ship
• Shoot bullets
• Space invaders
• Move left or right
• Shoot a bullet

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Events

• Changes in the game state
• Perceivable to the players
• Change of mode of play, closures
• Consequences of the actions
• Own actions
• Other player actions
• Game system generated
• Computer controlled opponents
• Gravitation, inertia and other automatic events

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Events Examples

• Pac-Man
• Pac-Man starts to move the direction
• Eats a pill
• The ghosts move, regenerate etc.
• Tetris
• New block appears
• The block starts to fall down
• The block gets stuck
• Full rows are removed
• The game ends

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Closures

• Quantifiable and meaningful player experiences
  normally associated with game state changes
• Associated with goals
• Reaching a goal (winning condition)
• Failing to reach a goal or losing the game (loss
  condition)
• Closures happen when playing the game, goals are
  part of the game
• Not necessarily defined as particular game states
• Borderline between first and second order game
  design concepts, may be player defined
• Normally deeply nested
• Subclosures of subclosures of subclosures

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Closures Examples

• Pac-Man
• Eating a pill
• Eating a power pill
• Eating a ghost
• Eating all the ghosts
• Finishing a level
• Losing a life
• Losing all lives
• Getting the high score
• Etc.
• Civilization
• Founding a city
• Completing a building/unit
• Completing research
• Winning a fight
• Discovering a hut/nation
• Eliminating an opponent
• Traveling to a star
• Etc.

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End Conditions and Evaluation Functions

• End condition is a game state requirement for
• Switching the mode of play
• Completion of a closure
• End of a game instance, game or play session
• Always associated with an evaluation function
• Together define win and loss conditions
• Evaluation function defines what is the outcome
  of the end condition

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End Conditions and Evaluation Functions Examples

• Pac-Man
• Eating a pill Pac-Man moves over the pill -gt
  more points
• Finishing a level All pills eaten -gt progress
  to next level
• Etc.
• Chess
• Check mate opponents king the king cannot move
  -gt the other player wins

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Structural Components

• Define the parts of the game which are
  manipulated by the players and the game system

• Interface provides players information about the
  game state and possible actions
• Game Elements components that contain the game
  state
• Players entities that try to achieve their own
  goals within the game
• Game Facilitator synchronizes the game state

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Interface

• Provides the player information
• The game state
• What actions are available
• Provides the player access to the actions
• What the player has to physically do to perform
  the action
• Can help to express the theme of the game
• Audio-visual style

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Interface Examples

• Chess
• The board laid out as 8X8 grids
• The pieces on the grids define the game state
• The player can move the piece by picking it up
  and putting it down
• Pac-Man
• Joystick for controlling the movement of the
  Pac-Man
• The level is shown on the screen
• Audio effects related to events

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Game Elements

• Physical and logical components that contain the
  game state
• Can be manipulated by player actions and game
  events
• Usually have attribute values that define their
  abilities
• Type
• Who controls
• What does it look like
• Etc.

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Game Elements Examples

• Elements that define the game world
• Chess board
• The landscape in a strategy game
• The geography of a fantasy role-playing game
• Elements that personify the player
• Pac-Man
• Asteroids ship
• Players avatar in the RPG
• Elements that are controlled by the player
• Units in a strategy game
• Chess pieces

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Players

• Representation of entities that are trying to
  achieve the goals in the game
• Change the game state through actions
• Can be human players or computer controlled
• Can compete against each other
• Can cooperate with other players
• Different ways of analysis
• Ghosts in Pac-Man as other players
• Tetris as a two player game?

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Players Examples

• Pac-Man
• The player controls the yellow Pac-Man
• Avoids the ghosts
• Computer controls the ghosts
• Try to catch Pac-Man
• Similarities to Tag
• Chess
• The white and black player try to eliminate each
  other
• MMORPGs
• Thousands of players represented by avatars in
  the game world

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Facilitator

• Takes care of setting up the game
• Synchronizes the game state
• Can be players themselves
• Children games
• Ultimate arbitrator of disputes between the
  players and the game system

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Facilitator Examples

• Tag
• The players define the boundaries
• The players keep track who is it
• Pac-Man
• The computer inside the arcade machine
• Tabletop RPGs
• The game master

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Exercise 2
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Task

• Take 2 games from one genre (e.g. FPS, RTS,
  MMORPG, Puzzle Game) and compare the gameplay
  they provide
• Take games you have played or have access to
• Use component framework and your definitions from
  exercise 1
• the games do not have to be games according to
  your definition(s)
• The report shall also contain general description
  of the games and gameplay
• The report shall also discuss what did not emerge
  from using the component framework

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Requirements

• Number of people 2
• Form groups yourself
• Deadline 20080214
• Length maximum of 8 pages
• Be able to explain both where the two games are
  similar and where they differ. Advantage if they
  can be used to explain differences in overall
  gameplay.
• Make use of the component framework
• Make use of other concepts (e.g. the different
  types of rules and magic circle)
• Fridays lecture is useful
• and so is next Fridays again

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Thank you!